Grave vault



June 16, 1942. v T. F. KELLEY GRAVE VAULT Filed March 25, 1939 A TTORNEYS.

Patented June 16, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRAVE VAULT Thomas F.Kelley,'Galion, ohm; Veronica Kelley executrix of Thomas ApplicationMarch 25, 1939, Serial No. 264,243

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in burial vaults, and it has forits primary object to provide a device of this kind wherein the base isprovided with rollers or other antifriction means which enable the pallbearers to place a casket thereon without the necessity of straddlingthe grave.

As a further and more specific object the invention aims to provide in adevice of this kind, antifriction means on the casket base adjacent themid and one end portion thereof and friction casket supports adjacentthe other end-to the end that the antifriction means will facilitatesliding of the casket onto the base and will support the casket duringsuch operation, and the friction means will act as a brake to cause thecasket to cease lineal movement in respect to the base and come to restat the proper point Without requiring especial attention of the pallbearers.

The invention also resides in certain novel features of construction,combination and arrangement of the various parts, and in modes ofoperatinall of which will be apparent to those skilled in the art uponreference to the accompanying descriptive matter in connection with theaccompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a gravevault base embodying my inventionand shown resting upon the loweringstraps of the lowering apparatus, ready to receive the casket;

Figure 2 is a lineal sectional view of said vault base and illustratingin dotted lines a casket being slid there onto;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing the casket and vaultcover in place;

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 3, and

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters, numeral 6 designatesthe frame of the vault, or casket lowering apparatus. This frame has theusual upstanding bearings 1 for the ends of the gear controlled shafts8, upon which are Wound the vault-supporting and lowering straps 9. Thebearings 1 at each end are connected by the cross bars I 0 and theturning of the shafts 8 is controlled as usual by the hand cranks IIindicated in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 1 the vault base is disposed upon the lowering straps9 ready to receive the casket l6 and vault cover 15 shown in Figure 3and to be lowered into the grave. The vault base is designated byreference character l2 and has F. Kelley, deceased the usual marginalflange l3 which supports the cover IS. The conventional latches M areprovided to retain the cover in place.

To facilitate placement of the casket IS on the base l2 without makingit necessary for the pall bearers to straddle the grave, the base I2 isprovided with transverse rollers l1 adjacent one end and at that side ofthe mid portion, as best indicated in Figure 1. These rollers arecarried in bearings l8 which are suitably secured to the base l2.

Adjacent the other end of the base l2 there is provided the upstandingfriction supports or pedestals, which in the present instance take theform of bulges l9 punched or indentations in the stock of the base I2.These serve the dual function of supporting the casket I 6 when it is inposition as shown in Figure 3 and acting as a brake to frictionallyretard movement of the casket I 6 lineally of the base over the rollersI 1 when it reaches, or rather approaches its proper position shown inFigure 3. Since the innermost roller i1 is located short of the linealmidpoint of base l2, it is obvious that casket l6 will bear on pedestalsl9 before it reaches the Fig. 3 position.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, the operation of the device will doubtless be readilyunderstood. The pall bearers simply slide the forward end of the casketonto the end roller l1 and push it into position as indicated in Figure3. The two rollers support it and when the friction supports orpedestals l9 are reached they tend to frictionally brakeor arrest linealmovement. It will be understood that the pedestals or supports l9 havetheir upper ends terminating in plane, or substantially so, with theupper peripheral portions of the rollers I1.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a casket receiving vault having a base and a removablecasket-enclosing cover, raised anti-friction means fixedly disposedtransversely of the upper surface of said base adjacent one end of thelatter, said anti-friction means terminating short of the sides of saidbase so as not to interfere with said cover, raised, roundedtopped,casket-supporting friction means rising from said base adjacent eachside thereof and having their upper rounded top ends substantially inplane with the top surface of said antifriction means, and the linealmid-point of said base lying between said friction and anti-frictionmeans, whereby the anti-friction means provid for quick starting of acasket onto said base and the rounded-topped, friction means cooperatewith the anti-friction means after the fashion of a brake to enable thepall bearers to readily effect lineal centering of a casket on saidbase, said friction and anti-friction means being adapted thereafter tomutually support said casket in spaced parallel relation to said base.

2. In a casket receiving vault having a base and a removablecasket-receiving cover, raised anti-friction means fixedly disposedtransversely of the upper surface of said base adjacent one end of thelatter, a second raised, fixedly transversely disposed anti-frictionmeans carried by said base between said first mentioned anti-frictionmeans and the lineal mid-point of said base and having its upper surfacesubstantially in plane with that of said first-mentioned antifrictionmeans, the ends of each of said antifriction means terminating short ofthe sides of said base whereby to avoid interference with placement ofsaid cover, and raised bevelled topped protuberance means adjacent eachside of said base between its lineal mid-point and the other endthereof, the bevelled tops of said protuberance means lyingsubstantially in plane with the top surfaces of said anti-frictionmeans, whereby said anti-friction means provide for quick starting of acasket onto said base and the bevelled-topped protuberance means act asa brake to enable the pall bearers to readily effect lineal centering ofa casket on said base, said anti-friction and protuberance means beinadapted thereafter to mutually support said casket in spaced parallelrelation to said base.

THOMAS F. KELLEY.

